Saratoga: City council gives the go-ahead to Quito Road Bridge project

A project to replace a pair of 100-year-old bridges on Quito Road near the intersection of Old Adobe Road received the go-ahead from the Saratoga City Council this month and will be advancing to the next step.

The council voted unanimously at its Aug. 20 meeting to approve the final design for the Quito Road Bridges project and authorize new city manager James Lindsay to file a notice of exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act. The project is exempt from CEQA because it is a replacement and reconstruction of existing structures and will have the same purpose and capacity as the structures replaced.

Prior to introducing the motion, Vice Mayor Howard Miller contended that the project was one of the largest noticed projects in the city's history. So far, 600 notices have been mailed in Los Gatos and 400 in Saratoga. Because the bridges cross the Los Gatos-Saratoga boundary and San Tomas Aquino Creek, Saratoga, Los Gatos and the Santa Clara Valley Water District have entered into a cooperative agreement to facilitate the work.

"I think, you know, if you could get an award for how you would deal with a project in a very sensitive area with a very tight-knit part of the community, this would be a project to get that award," Miller said. "I think we've done an exceptional job."

Advertisement

The plan is to replace the existing bridges with two two-lane bridges that meet Caltrans safety standards. Both bridges will be widened to include shoulders and elevated. The purpose of the project is to make the bridges more seismically sound and bring them up to state design standards.

In his overview of the project, public works director John Cherbone addressed the removal of 16 old-growth trees during the widening process, a number that has been reduced from an earlier estimate of 22.

"All significant oak trees that people can see on the roadway that provide canopy--those have been saved," he said. "We did our best to save every significant tree."

Cherbone also touched on traffic control plans and detour routes once construction gets going a year and a half from now. He noted that bridge replacement would necessitate the closure of Quito Road during the approximately six- to nine-month construction period. Staging will be behind the detour area on Quito Road, Cherbone said.

With the design receiving approval, the second phase of the project will begin this fall and entail the acquisition of right-of-way easements totaling approximately 4,532 square feet.